The truth about Captain Cook and Maori: it’s not what Michael King told you

This week marks the 250th anniversary of British explorer James Cook and his crew making landfall in New Zealand, and the media have been full of stories demanding Britain “apologise” for colonising the country and “murdering” Maori during that first encounter. However, as IAN WISHART writes in his New Zealand history bestseller The Great Divide, Maori tribes had been slaughtering each other and practising slavery and cannibalism for centuries before the Europeans interfered. In this extract from the book to mark the anniversary, it becomes clear that acclaimed historians like Michael King have misled the public about Cook’s first encounter, and its significance in a land where the law of “utu” meant massacres were common:
https://investigatemagazine.co.nz/27473/the-truth-about-captain-cook-and-maori-its-not-what-michael-king-told-you/

 
The Great Divide: the story of New Zealand & its Treaty Kindle Edition
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Divide-story-Zealand-Treaty-ebook/dp/B007XVWCAA

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